


Little Galaxy in Your Eyes

by sisterdragonwithfeathers



Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Empire Era, Found Family, Gen, Mostly Cute Probably, Post-Order 66, but with a little angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-13
Updated: 2020-06-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 16:55:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24170179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sisterdragonwithfeathers/pseuds/sisterdragonwithfeathers
Summary: Post order-66 clones refuse to kill the youngling they've been sent to hunt down and run away with her instead.Impromptu parenting ensues.On indefinite hiatus for story revisions and outlining, but definitely not abandoned! Good things come to those who wait, if you're willing to stick around.
Relationships: original clones & original child character
Comments: 3
Kudos: 9





	1. Stary-Eyed

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was inspired by an awesome Tumblr post which I do not know how to provide a link to.  
> My Tumblr is @sisterdragonwithfeathers, if you want to find my original post of this first chapter (which has the aforementioned link) or check out any of my other art or Clone Wars posts and writing.

"Riff, we can't." Aspen pulled his gaze away from the toddler on the bed to look at his brother.

Riff's hands were shaking on his blaster. "We...have to. It doesn't matter anymore, right? H- _its_ parents were already gone by the time we got here."

Aspen jerked off his helmet and rubbed a hand across his forehead.

The little girl's big, starry eyes widened as she gazed up at his barred face.

He did his best to ignore her. "Riff, we can't just-" He huffed in exasperation. "It's a frickin' child, Riff. Aren't things like that supposed to make a difference?"

"They didn't care about her," Riff slipped on the last word and swore. "They knew the danger. We do too. We can't-" He made the mistake of looking over at the little rodian, who was still apparently fascinated by Aspen's face.

He swore again and looked down. "Yeah," he ground out, almost too quiet to hear. "It did used to make a difference. Before..."

Aspen nodded. Riff didn't have to finish that sentence.

"I think, Aspen started hesitantly, "we might owe it to them. Not, not the parents, but-" He swallowed thickly. "Didn't they call other force-...little brothers and sisters?"

Riff shook his head as if in pain. He crouched down and put one hand over his visor, the other still limply grasping his blaster.

Aspen let the silence linger for a bit, glancing at the little girl again. He looked back down to see his brother do the same. "Vod?"

Riff straightened and squared his shoulders. "Right." He stood.

"Are we-"

"Yeah."

Was it Aspen's imagination, or did Riff's voice crack a bit on that last word?

"We gotta get going." Riff glanced back at the kid. "You carry it. It seems to like you, and we can't afford it making noise."

Aspen walked over and scooped the girl out of her nest of blankets.

She squealed a little in delight, before he quickly shushed her. He turned back to Riff. "You should probably start calling her a 'her', especially if we're gonna-"

"Don't-" Riff held up a hand, "Don't finish that sentence. I can't think about what we're doing right now."

Aspen shook his head. He could hardly believe they were doing this, either, and he was honestly a little surprised Riff was taking it this well. He smiled at that and slid his helmet back on.

The rodian girl in his arms promptly whimpered.

The trooper sighed, slipped the helmet back off, and clipped it to his belt. "Whatever makes you happy, little one," he whispered to her. He glanced back up quickly at his brother.

If Riff had heard him, he didn't react. He was involved in checking out the street through the blinds.

Aspen kept silent. Let Riff do the planning. Riff was good at that.

"Alright." Riff turned to face him. "Our delay is starting to attract some attention. And we can't just walk back out there with your helmet off holding the kid if we want to get her off world."

Aspen swallowed back a stab of panic. "Yeah," he said. "So...we going out the back?"

His brother nodded. Checked one more time out the front window. And stiffened. "They're coming in after us."

"What?!"

"We must have been off the comms too long for their liking." Riff swore again. "We need to move, now." He shot toward the back of the house.

Aspen bolted out on his heels, clutching the little girl tighter, just as he saw their lights flashing in the windows.

The realization hit him like a stun blast as they ran out into the cold night. They were deserting. The. Army. _Running_ after having disobeyed a direct order.

He stumbled a bit, nearly colliding with a civilian as he followed on Riff's tail around a corner.

No. Not the same. Not wrong, it couldn't be.

What all his brothers had fought for was long gone. Whatever this was, it wasn't what they had sworn to serve. No. It wasn't. Not children.

Aspen glanced down again at the girl in his arms, smiling delightedly, clinging tightly to his armor as he ran.

**_Keep going,_** something told him. **_They all deserve it._**

And he followed Riff into the dark.


	2. Stars' Fruit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any continuation is good continuation, right? Soon I'll be getting into a little more detail. And probably be aging Stars up a bit.  
> But for now, here's a couple inexperienced dads not used to dad-ing.  
> Don't worry, they'll get the hang of it.  
> Next chapter I'll be including a little preview of the bigger Rexsoka AU fic I'm writing.

“Stars, get out of there!” Riff took several hurried steps toward the little rodian girl, who had toddled away from him and up into a vendors fruit basket.

Stars babbled indignantly, almost sounding like she was speaking actual words.

Riff might have been proud, under different circumstances. “Well get down anyway.” He bent forward, hands reached out to her.

The little girl shook her head at him, her antennae swaying. She picked up a fruit in both of her little hands.

The vendor seemed to notice her, now. “Hey, you put that down, youngling,” he skowled.

Aspen came up behind Riff. “Ah, sorry, sir, that’s ours.” He lowered his tone. “Well, grab her already, Riff.” He elbowed his brother.

Riff grumbled and moved to pick up the girl, still busy as she was contemplating the fruit in her hands. Just before he hoisted her in the air, she managed to take a bite out of it.

“Hey!”

“Oh moons, Stars,” Riff sighed. He settled her more firmly as juice dripped down the rodian girl’s hands onto his arms.

The vendor frowned.

“We are so sorry sir,” Aspen said, pushing forward and handing the disgruntled man a couple credits.

“No harm I ‘spose,” he grunted. “But you’d best keep a better eye on that little one, ey? There’s a lot worse places she could have wandered than my stall.” He nodded meaningfully toward the busy street.

Aspen swallowed and gave a pained smile. “Will do, sir. Thank you.” He hurried off as Riff pulled him away.

\------※------※-----※-----※-----※------  
Once they were out of the crowded marketplace, Riff slowed down a bit and let go of Aspen’s arm.

“Here,” he said, holding out the sticky toddler in his arms.

Aspen took her automatically. He smiled when she looked up at him, uncertainty in her wide, starry eyes. “It’s alright, we aren’t mad at you.” He glanced up at Riff, who was grumpily flicking fruit juice off his arms while muttering swear words under his breath. He looked back down at her. “Not even Riff, even though he sounds like it.”

“You know she still can’t understand you, right?” Riff turned his head toward the two of them, having given up trying to clean his sticky bracers.

Aspen raised an eyebrow. “Says the vod who still talks to her alone every chance he gets.” A little sarcasm slipped into his tone. Normally, he wouldn’t dare sass his older, tougher brother, but these days he was often too tired to care.

Riff scowled at him, but his brother could tell it was half-hearted. Despite the tough act, Aspen knew Riff cared about Stars as much as he did.

“C’mon,” Riff jerked his head in the direction of the landing field. “let’s get back to the ship.” He flicked his arms again, a resigned scowl on his face, then glanced at Star’s own sticky hands. “Get all this cleaned up.”


	3. Star Charts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to keep her really young a little bit longer. Give a little more development to these troopers and this situation.  
> Also uh... slight angst warning? Tears and hugs. It's hard to turn your life around, and honestly everybody here is really young. Like, 13-or-younger-going-on-20-something-child-soldiers transitioning and adapting to guardianship? Everybody on here can say "emotional roller-coaster".
> 
> Heads up again, there will be a small section at the end which is a preview of a Rexsoka Mer-AU fic I'm still outlining. Feel free to skip that if you're not interested.

It had taken some doing, but Riff was fairly certain he had finally gotten all the sticky spots of juice off his bracers and out of his clothing. Though, it was hard to tell through all the water that was now soaking his front. Only so much he could do about that. These were the only cloths he had, so unless he wanted to walk around the ship topless (he definitely didn't), all he could really take off was his outer cloak.

He laid the garment out over a crate and went to sit down on the bench butted up against one wall of the main "room" of their ship. Aspen was still off taking care of Stars. Riff was grateful for the reprieve. He'd had to take care of Stars most of the time they were in town so Aspen was free to negotiate with the vendors. Riff tended to scare them. He really hadn't expected all the difficulties that came from taking care of Stars alone for that amount of time and in that sort of potentially dangerous environment.

He leaned forward till his head was almost between his knees, then went to lean his head back against the wall and nearly jumped when he saw Aspen standing a meter in front of him.

"Aspen, what the-" Riff caught himself before he swore. _Really shouldn't do that around the kid; have to practice._ "How long have you been standing there?"

Aspen cocked his head at him tiredly. "Just came in," he said softly, coming over to sit next to his brother. "I just got the kid to sleep and I am not risking waking her by stomping around the ship."

Riff just nodded and leaned forward again, burying his face in his hands.

Aspen's hand came up and rested on his shoulder. "Are you alright, Vod?"

Even with his eyes covered, Riff could picture perfectly the concerned look on his little brother's face. Aspen had always had a knack for caring (too much, he had thought so often). Riff had always seen it as a weakness, something he'd have to protect his little brother from. But now...

"Is it always like this?"

Riff could hear Aspen shift next to him, but the hand remained firmly on his shoulder. "Is what always like this?"

Riff let out a breath and let his hands drop down from his face to rest between his knees. "Caring, like you do. Is it always this difficult? This... _consuming_?"

"Caring..." Aspen repeated slowly. "As in, caring about Stars?" he probed cautiously.

Riff nodded quietly, still not meeting his brother's gaze.

Aspen shifted his hand from Riff's shoulder to his back. "Is caring difficult?" He repeated the question to himself, rubbing his hand in soothing circles. "I don't know; what do you mean by 'consuming'?"

"If I keep caring, will it -will _I_ \- always be this..." Riff drifted off. He closed his eyes, focusing on the pressure of Aspen's hand on his back. "Afraid?" he finally finished, his voice on the edge of cracking.

Aspen's hand stopped moving, then shifted back to his shoulder. Pushing, turning him toward his brother.

Riff opened his eyes again just as Aspen reached tentatively out to pull his older brother into a hug. For the first time in a very, very, long time, Riff let him. Hugged back. Squeezed his burning eyes shut against the hot tears pooling in his eyes. And hung on like Aspen was a lifeline. Maybe he was.

Riff wasn't used to feeling this helpless. He was supposed to be the big brother, the one who took care of his younger, weaker vode. The one who was practical, who knew the plans, who could rely on his training the best. But it felt like there was nothing to be practical about, now. What few plans they had were scrapped together. For once, they hadn't trained for this. He couldn't see disaster coming anymore, couldn't fully prepare for whenever or however it might strike. It was nerve-wracking.

_Not_ caring like this, back when, had been a shield. One Riff hadn't fully realized was there. Now, caring about someone so vulnerable, in a situation he could control so little of-

He felt cornered, exposed, with no defenses. He wasn't fully sure at this point he wouldn't fall apart.

So he just let Aspen hold him. Let himself feel protected, by someone or something outside himself, for once. Let the exhaustion wash over him. And drifted off.

* * *

Aspen felt Riff starting to relax even before his brother's breathing settled into a deep, sleepy rhythm. He shook his head. Even a few weeks ago, he never would have believed his brother could be like this. Riff was never relaxed enough to up and fall asleep outside of their regulated sleeping hours. However tired he was, however long the march or the watch, Riff was alert.

Aspen held his brother long after he was certain he was asleep. Riff, afraid? Aspen had had some concept, when they ran out the back door of the abandoned home those few weeks ago, that things would be different. A little later, after the initial rush, that there would be some things they were loosing. He hadn't thought so much in their minds fit into the category of "could be lost". He certainly hadn't considered Riff's endless, quiet confidence to be in that category.

So he held on to his brother. Trying to be _close_ and _warm_ what his vod had been so often _distant_ and _cold_ : stable, safe, steadying. "Here no matter what" and "never leaving".

Aspen shivered, suddenly, feeling the cold dampness in his brother's shirt soaking into his own. To conserve resources, they generally only heated what parts of the ship they had to: usually wherever Stars was. And the nights on this planet were cold.

Reaching away from Riff for a moment, Aspen grabbed a blanket which had been thrown on the seat behind him. He pulled it around the two of them, shifting Riff to a more comfortable position beside him, leaning somewhat on the wall. Riff's breathing barely hitched. He was out cold.

Huddled against his sleeping brother's side, as deep in the blanket as he could get, Aspen slowly let sleep take him too.

* * *

**End of Chapter.**

**Following is the Rexsoka Mer-AU preview.**

Rex stands on the crest of the cliff, a few paces forward of his speederbike, and looks out to sea. The fickle winds whip up his jacket, and the captain sighs.

He doesn't like how vulnerable the civilian garb leaves him feeling. But the battalion had quickly learned that what little begrudging trust the natives had would not be bestowed on armored soldiers, and the Republic couldn't afford the unrest, even in a backwater world like this.

The distant sea below him froths against the cliffs. The sky rumbles from above, as if in answer.

Rex didn't used to think much about the sea. It was simply a feature on Camino, as irrelevant to him and his brothers as the sky was to a stone. Here, he had learned its power when it met the land, and the terror of being caught up in it's grip and hurled wherever it decided to take him. It frightened him now almost as much as it drew him.

He hadn't quite mustered the courage to go back to the beach yet. The wide pathway of stone turned sand tugged at his curiosity. If he went back, would he spot her again?

It was no hallucination, what had happened. He'd told the general and his boys he thinks one of the natives had helped him out (no he hadn't gotten a good look). That's still true, as far as it goes. But he saw more than he let on. She was swimming, breathing under there, as she held out her hands and the air rushed back to his lungs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> About the Mer-AU thing: Really short and non-spoilery preview, I know. I'm still debating whether to write this in present-tense like this bit or normal ol' past-tense. Any input is appreciated.


	4. Starlane

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is really, really short (I'm sorry!), because it's late, but I'm finally outlining so chapters are gonna start being more organized and possibly longer.

The bright blue glow of hyperspace illuminated the cockpit of their ship. The swirling lights were still new enough to Stars to keep her attention.

Riff sat in the pilot's seat, Aspen in the co-pilot's seat beside him with Stars on his lap.

"So, you really think this is gonna work?" Aspen asked.

Riff pressed a couple buttons and glanced at the ship's holo-screen. "As far as I can tell," he replied, gruffly. "There's nothing of interest on this planet. No military presence, no major ports, and not nearly enough locals or resources to attract either major gangs or the Empire." He tapped the screen again. "It's small, too." Riff sat back. "About the only problem I see is how we're gonna live here. We don't exactly have much to work with in way of credits."

"We'll figure something out," Aspen said optimistically, looking down and pulling Stars back from where she had nearly reached the ship's controls.

Riff squinted at his brother. _Am I imagining it, or is he more cheerful than normal?_

"Hmph," was all he responded.

Aspen looked up at him. "Are you...still having trouble like the other night?" he asked, carefully.

Riff resisted the scowl which threatened to take over his expression. Despite his anger, he could feel a stab of cold, icy helplessness emerge in his conscious mind again at the memories Aspen's words released. He mentally jammed it (them) back down. "I'm alright," he managed, surprisingly civilly. He swallowed back the sudden lump in his throat.

That seemed enough for Aspen, though the worry didn't quite leave his face. "Alright," he murmured back, nodding.

Riff turned his attention back to the screen. "Coming out of hyperspace," he said.

There was a slight jerk as the ship came back into realspace before the small planet, a promise of refuge.

_Let's hope more than a promise,_ Riff thought, desperation seeping back into the edges of his thoughts. _I- we, have to be able to establish something here. Something that lasts longer than a few days. Something that is stable._ He glanced down at his hands, and admitted to himself, just once, _**I** need this._


End file.
